The Source of Power

By: Yamiko #7

Hello again, all, and welcome to Chapter Final! (Or, for those of you who are too numerical to let it go, Chapter Eleven.) This is the first time I've ever reached a Chapter Eleven of anything, and I'm amazed that I've survived this long. It's been, what, five months? (End of December to end of May…yeah, five months.) Wow. So much has happened in that time…I lived through IB, my older brother came home from college, I've gotten sick half-a-dozen times, I turned eighteen…I graduated…and the next time I complain about school assignments, it will be from Pepperdine in Malibu, CA.

Hot damn.

Going back through this fic and reading all my authoress blurbs is like reading a diary. It's just amazing how much has changed.

It's also a sure sign of the fact that I seriously need a blog.

Well, this is the last chapter of this one, and I've certainly kept you waiting long enough, so…here you go!

Chapter Eleven: Out of the Woods

"Rosette? Rosette!"

She shifted slightly. Lord, but she was tired…"mmwha?"

"Oh, her brilliant conversational skills have returned." This voice was different. "She'll be fine."

"Remington, shut up."

She opened her eyes slowly and tried to count the number of people standing around her. Too many. Jeez, I faint and the people just multiply.

"Don't tell me to shut up," Remington gave Chrno a little half-smirk. "I outrank you."

Chrno stiffened slightly at the words. Why, Rosette wondered, then let the worry float away. If it really mattered he'd say something about it.

He kept his mouth shut.

Crisis averted.

Assuming there had been a crisis, that is.

"Sister, I'm so glad you're okay!" Joshua, uncharacteristically emotional, had taken hold of one of her hands.

Azmaria had the other. "You were asleep for so long…" Concern. "Are you feeling alright?"

Rosette took her hands back and sat up, giving the apostle an easy smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." She caught sight of the Magdalene Musketeers, standing at the foot of her bed and sniffling in unison. "What's gotten into you?"

All three of them simultaneously burst into tears.

"Now you've done it," Remington muttered. Chrno hid a smile.

"Chrno walked in the gates carrying you –" Anna started.

"And you weren't moving, and –" Claire tried.

"We thought you were dead!" Mary wailed.

"And then he said you'd be okay, but –"

"Nothing we did had any effect, and –"

"We thought you were dead!"

"And then you were asleep for two whole days, and –"

"No matter what we did, you just wouldn't wake up, and –"

"We thought you were dead!"

Rosette looked at Joshua. "Have they been practicing?"

"Oddly enough," he replied slowly, "no."

Rosette smiled reassuringly at them. "Well, I'm fine," the smile became a grin, "and this time, it didn't take me a week."

The tears stopped. After a couple seconds of silence:

"Well," Anna said slowly, "that's true."

"Good," Claire added.

"Yeah." Mary gave an emphatic nod.

"Now, don't you three have chores to do?" As the Musketeers hurried out, Remington turned to Rosette. "Sister Kate is going to want a full report on her desk by the end of the week. You'd better think of something good."

"Is "I don't really get it myself" good enough?" Rosette replied hopefully.

"Unfortunately, no." Remington flashed a grin and with one final comment – "I'll be looking forward to reading it." – followed the Musketeers out the door.

"Great." Rosette sank back on her pillows. "Just great." She closed her eyes, and before she knew it she was out again.

"Rosette. Hey. Rosette!"

She bolted awake – "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" – and blinked. "Chrno?"

"Well, you got one right."

She sighed. Gee, thanks. "Was I asleep again?"

"Yeah, you were." A pause. "Did you develop narcolepsy when I wasn't looking? Because you were awake for maybe ninety seconds before you dropped out on us." His worry came disguised in the form of a weak joke.

"Ha ha. I'm just tired." Another round of blinking. "Where are Joshua and Azmaria?"

"I ate them," Chrno deadpanned.

Rosette blinked again. Her brain didn't seem to be up to speed today. No surprise, really. "You lie."

"I never lie," Chrno replied airily. "I just make really bad jokes."

"Right." She flopped back down on the bed. "What the hell happened?"

"Well, what's the last thing you remember?"

"The dog melted," she said slowly.

"Yeah. As I remember, that was the one thing you noticed before you conked out on me."

"Like I did two minutes ago."

"Yeah. You know, in case you think I enjoy having heart attacks…"

She smiled. "Alright, I get it. I'll stay awake this time. Now spill it. What happened back there?" She sat up and leaned towards him.

"Well," he stretched the word out, dragging a chair closer to her bed and sitting in it. "I'm not a hundred percent sure myself."

"That's not gonna cut it on a report to Sister Kate."

"Well, then I suppose it's a good thing that I'm not writing one."

Rosette laughed. "Touché."

"Thank you." He grinned. "I do try."

"Now," she sobered up as quickly as if a switch had been flipped, "tell me what happened."

"Well," he dragged the word out again, "like I said, I'm not sure. I've only really ever heard about this kind of thing."

"From Shader," Rosette interjected.

"Of course."

"Because Shader knows everything."

"No, Shader has a computer that knows everything. Get it right." Said with a smile that Rosette couldn't help but return.

"Fine, fine. Anyway, keep going." She waved a hand at him.

"It has to do with the bond the two of you created in Power Sharing," he said slowly. "The price he may have wanted in exchange for his power would have been the ability to control you. He probably thought he could do that using the spot on the back of your neck.

"As far as I can tell, he didn't figure on your personality and the strength of your will. It was too hard for him to control both you and his familiar and talk to me all at once, which is why his control of you was incomplete."

"Solid proof that men can't multitask." Rosette nodded, falling silent when her joke failed to elicit a laugh or even a smile from her companion. "So," she continued quietly, "that's why I was able to move and…do what I did."

"Yeah. "

"So what the hell happened there? It felt like I was caught in something."

"Metaphysically speaking, you were." Chrno stopped, arranging words in his head until they sounded right. "When he initiated the connection, it was a simple flow of energy from him to you, and he controlled it. When you grabbed him, it turned that line into a ring, and both of you lost that control. I…" He started to trail off, caught himself. "I don't know how you broke it and I don't know why he died. Shock, maybe overload, if I had to guess."

"But I'm still here because I broke myself out of it," Rosette said slowly.

"Exactly," Chrno replied. "I think."

"Well that's reassuring."

"Like I said, I do try."

Rosette paused. "So then, why did the dog melt?"

"It was his familiar," Chrno said simply, "made from his energy. He dies, the familiar goes with."

"And why don't you have one?"

"The short answer," Chrno replied, "is that I don't need one. The long answer is that they're a pain in the ass to make."

"But you could if you wanted to."

"Yes."

"Now…" Rosette tried for a minute, but the one question she'd been meaning to ask was just out of her mind's reach. She simply avoided the oncoming frustration and went for another. "Explain something to me.

As though I haven't been doing just that. Chrno decided to keep that particular comment to himself. "Shoot."

"Why did you freak out so badly when you found out what I'd been doing?"

"Well, I…I…" He trailed off again. "I…thought I already told you."

"No, not really. You told me it was illegal, and you made it sound like some ancient ritual or something that couldn't be broken no matter what, nope, sorry, not happening. Equivalent trade or what the hell ever. But I broke it." She held up a finger to silence him before he could start. "Yeah, I know, he overestimated himself and underestimated me, yadda yadda yadda, typical bad-guy mistake. I get that.

"What I want to know is, if you knew it could be broken, why did you freak out so much?"

"I…" Chrno tried again, then stopped. "There's no getting out of this one, is there," he muttered.

"Nope."

"It's…I…" God this was hard. "It's because I was scared," he managed. Once those words were out, it seemed nothing would hold the rest of them in. "Somehow I managed to completely miss what you were going through, how you felt…really, everything…you had to turn to a…to a complete stranger to get what you needed. I didn't even notice until it caused me physical pain. I told you I loved you, I swore I'd protect you, and…and I failed miserably at both.

"I was scared I had lost you…I was scared you wouldn't make it through the week…and then when he had you, and you…I…Rosette, I…I'm so sorry," he finished weakly. He looked as though he were about to fall apart.

She took one of his hands in both of hers. "Well," she started slowly, "I haven't exactly been making this easier for you."

He looked up, meeting her eyes, silent. Waiting for what was coming next.

"So…well, I guess we should just talk more," she continued. "It would sure save us a lot of trouble on things like this."

"Yeah. You're right." He smiled. He had cheered up, calmed down…

Great.

Because she had finally managed to catch the question that had been dancing just out of her grasp.

"Chrno, one more thing…Who was that guy working for?"

Chrno was suddenly very quiet.

"What name did he say it was? Lombo…Lombi…I dunno. Something Italian. You freaked out when you heard his name. Why?"

"That's not important right now," Chrno said softly.

"What do you mean, it-"

"It's not important." His deep voice cut through her demanding one.

Rosette's eyes narrowed. "You're holding out on me," she accused.

"Yeah, I am." His voice was sharp. "It's demon politics, Rosette, not something you ever want or need to be involved in. If something comes up later where you are involved I will be sure to tell you then, but for now you do not need to know. It is not important." The expression on his face told her more surely than any words that the subject was closed.

She tried anyway. "But –"

"No." He put a hand gently on her shoulder. "Please, Rosette, trust me on this. If it ever comes up where you do need to know, I'll tell you, I promise. But for now, you should really be concerning yourself with other things. Like that report." He ran his hand across her collarbone and up her neck, gently rubbing a sensitive spot. "And getting some rest before that."

"Oh…" She was going to argue with him, really she was…except that his touch felt so good…and she really was tired…

"Oh, alright." She leaned slowly against her pillows and was asleep before either of them realized it.

Chrno leaned back into his chair and sighed. He'd had no idea if he would be able to avoid that one, and was pleased to find it reasonably out of his way.

You know, the little voice he'd come to know as Reason reminded him, you'll have to tell her sooner or later.

I know. Even in his head he sounded defeated.

"Later" being the key word in that sentence, Reason added. Small blessings, huh?

Yeah, Chrno agreed, closing his eyes and slowly drifting off himself.

Small blessings.

And on that note, I'm done. Holy cow. I'm finding that rather hard to believe. (looks around) Well, the world hasn't ended…so I suppose things must be okay…but wow. Just wow.

And for those of you who have questions about Lombardi, go ahead and put them in reviews. Just don't expect them to be answered for a while. There is another reason I'm writing another fic after this, you know. No, it's not because…well, yeah, it is because I'm a complete attention whore, but that's beside the point. The point is, I like this little pseudo-alternate reality I've created, and I want to keep going with it. Three more after this one, and expect the next one to be short, with the first chapter coming pretty soon.

Although, come to think of it, I can't really start the next chapter without all those girl characters…c'mon, people, help me out here. Please. Character creation is just not my strong point. (sad puppy dog face) Please?

Anyway…

Thank you all so much for reading this and leaving reviews. Yes, I do read every single one and I enjoy them all. As always, if you don't understand something, challenge it. Challenge me. Goodness knows I need the exercise.

Again, a big huge THANK YOU to everybody who has read this, and hopefully I'll see you all again when the next one starts up. Enjoy your day!